AFTER THIRTEEN YEARS

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1928, Page 17

AFTER THIRTEEN YEARS

MISSING SOLDIER RETURNS

RECOGNISES RELATIVES. MOTHER FULL OF HOPE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Missing since early in the war, George Thomas McQuay, a New Zealand soldier, returned to-day by the Maunganui, after thirteen years' absence. He was accompanied by his mother and by two attendants from the Callan Park Hospital, Sydney, where he was discovered. • Although he was on the top deck of the steamer when it drew in to the wharf, McQuay recognised his brother and sister at once, and called out greetings to them. He will undergo special treatment, and it is confidently anticipated that his health will before long be such as will permit of his removal to his home in Stratford. Suffering from Shell Shock. Mrs. McQuay said her son left with the sth New Zealand Reinforcements. "He was then about 25 years of age," she said. "He is now 38. At present he is suffering from the effects of shell shock and is always complaining of a terrible headache." The officials of Callan Park had prepared her son to meet her on her arrival there, and each recognised the other instantly. "I went to &ee him every day," said Mrs. McQuay, "ana although he could not count more than five when I first saw him, he seemed to improve every day. When we left Sydney he could play quite a good game of euchre, counting the points as well. The doctors in Sydney noticed the improvement and are hopeful that he will recover. "It has been a great joy to have him restored to us, for we had no official information concerning him of any kind. One boat stated to be bringing information about him was sunk." Hopes for his Recovery. Mrs. McQuay said that at times her son appeared quite normal, but would relapse into quiet periods, and that had been his condition through the years he had been in the Sydney hospital. It was hoped these relapses woukf ultimately disappear. Mrs. McQuay took occasion to thank publicly the New Zealand Government, especially Hon. F. J. Rolleston, the Australian Government, and various interested bodies, for the interest and assistance given her in regard to her son. "I j have come back to New Zealand with a very much lighter heart," she said, "and with feelings of intense gratitude to aIL I 1 feel it is only a question of time when he will have his mind fully restored."